The Adventure at Old Basingstoke by Kathleen Kaska
A Sherlock Holmes Pastiche
In the many cases in which I cooperated with my friend Sherlock Holmes over the years of our association, none began as chaotically as the Old Basingstoke case. Holmes and I had just returned from an exhausting adventure in Dartmoor, where he had found what was to many, a local hero. Silver Blaze, the missing star racehorse owned by Colonel Ross, had miraculously reappeared to win the Wessex Plate as if my friend had waved a magic wand.
Our return trip, with Colonel Ross in tow, was not without incident. By the time we reached Clapham Junction, Holmes had explained the extraordinary links in his chain of reasoning that led to the return of the horse and had issued an invitation for the Colonel to join us in Baker Street for a cigar. We expected to be at Victoria in a mere ten minutes. However, a problem with a fire earlier in the day along the tracks had resulted in train delays. Rather than waiting for the delayed train to Victoria Station, we got off at Clapham Junction. Ross left us there, and Holmes and I made the six-mile trudge to Baker Street, partly by cab and some by foot. I went immediately to bed, but Holmes was still energetic, as the lethargy that ordinarily followed a case had not yet set in. I said goodnight and left him working his way through a stack of mail and…
